Chapter 482: Chapter 482: A Grandfather and a Grandson, and Life’s Greatest Lesson [5]

Chapter 482 – A Grandfather and a Grandson, and Life’s Greatest Lesson [5]

The fourth day came.

Kaden continued his duties as usual, taking care of everything without a single whisper of complaint.

His tired heart was free of indignation. It actually felt a kind of fulfilment in helping his grandfather with the things the old man could no longer attend to himself.

And how could he even dare to complain?

His grandfather had raised his father, who in turn had raised him into the man he was. In a way, Kaden owed Raven everything. Yet even without all of that, he would still have been glad to help.

For a moment he wondered if this was the feeling healers and caretakers carried. It was no easy thing to tend to someone and address their every need. Even harder when that someone was a stranger.

Yet there were people who chose that as their life’s work, spending the majority of their years doing exactly that.

At that, Kaden paused in the middle of his cleaning and allowed himself to wonder quietly.

’Aren’t they better than me?’

Between him — killing people left and right, leaving behind irreparable damage to the world and the people within it — and those caretakers who spent all their resources on beings they had only just met?

Who was better?

Only now did he realise how laughable and hollow the epithet ’Hero’ truly was. If being a hero meant killing a group’s chosen enemy without caring about the other side, then the epithet was nothing but an illusion; handed to you by the very people you killed for, just to make you feel obligated to them.

’The real heroes are usually the ones most overlooked.’ Kaden whispered, continuing his work, his mind strangely clearer than it had been in a long time. ’The overworked mother who puts food on the table. The tired father who broke his back for his children’s future. The healer who emptied her mana for a stranger. The sister who ate a little less so her younger brother could have more.’

Those people were unseen. Their actions were not loud. Small, silent even. Yet those were the most difficult, the most courageous and the most heroic.

The world rewarded the loud. The loudest actions were always the ones hailed. Always the ones celebrated.

’Just like me...in Waverith.’

But most of the time, those loud actions reflected nothing real about the man who performed them. Anyone could put on a display when the entire goddamn world was watching.

What truly mattered was what you did when no one was watching. When you were alone, with no eyes on you, no judgement waiting.

’And I know... I know how many of us so-called heroes would show an entirely different face if they could show their real selves.’

Kaden shook his head softly, heart aching. His grandfather’s state had made him think and understand things he never would have reached on his own.

Yet amid all of it, one question remained unanswered.

So after finishing his cleaning, he went back to Raven’s side.

The old man could no longer move. Kaden’s chest tightened at that, but he pushed the sadness away quickly when Raven turned his head toward him and smiled.

Kaden sat beside him, took his hands within his own, and kissed his forehead.

It had become a routine. And even after so many times, Raven’s reaction was the same as the very first.

This was a man who valued connection, affection, and closeness above everything. Kaden had understood that about his grandfather. And his respect for him only deepened.

"Aye, my boy." Raven’s voice had grown far weaker. "You have a question, haven’t you?"

He smiled knowingly.

If Kaden had managed to understand one thing about Raven in four days, Raven understood three things about Kaden.

The old man had read his grandson far beyond what should have been possible in such a short time — and was visibly thrilled about it, like a child who solved a puzzle and thought himself a genius.

"Aye, grandfather." Kaden said, caressing his hand gently, trying not to dwell on the overwhelming presence of death in it. "Are you not afraid?"

Raven smiled knowingly. "Afraid of what?"

"Of death." Kaden replied, his voice tight. "Of death, grandfather. I don’t understand why or how you can be so... happy, knowing that you will—!"

"But don’t you know it too?" Raven cut in, voice rasping. "Don’t you know that you will die, my boy?"

"I mean, yes, but—!"

"But you don’t believe it." Raven laughed, small and dry. "I said that to you once, didn’t I? Everyone knows they are going to die. But nobody truly believes it. You are the same, my boy. You know it. Even gods die. But you don’t believe it. Do you know why?"

He answered himself after a short pause to catch his breath.

"Because you can only believe it when you are at death’s door. Or when you are already dead. That is the irony of death. You can only believe it after tasting it."

’But I have, grandfather. I have tasted death.’

But Kaden knew his deaths had never been permanent. In a sense, he had never truly died, no matter how deeply the sensation touched his soul. Because death was something permanent and unchanging.

What had he been doing in that darkness? Resetting. Renewing.

In one sense it was death. In another, it was not.

Kaden exhaled quietly, his intent of death beginning to stir in the light of that realisation. But something was still missing.

Raven continued after a moment.

"That is why it is so important to grow old." He laughed weakly when his grandson looked at him strangely.

"Aye, my boy, don’t look at me like that." He said. "Young people don’t fancy aging. But do you know something? Aging is not only decay." He paused to cough, then continued. "Aging is growth too. It is more than just the negative with the weight of new responsibilities, or the certainty that you are going to die. It is also..."

He coughed harder. Kaden helped him lean forward, face down, to cough out a solid mass of condensed black blood.

Kaden’s body shuddered at it, feeling the wisp of sorrow inside that blood. He reined in his anger and his grief and turned his attention back to his grandfather, who looked marginally better — as better as a dying man could manage — and resumed with an apologetic smile.

"Ah, my boy. I am sorry."

Kaden clenched his jaw. "Don’t be, grandfather."

Raven smiled. "As I was saying," he cleared his throat, "aging is not only the negative. It is also the positive of knowing that you are going to die, and so you learn to live better because of it."

"Is that what helped you, grandfather?"

"Aye. Aging and living through things make you realise things. And don’t look at me, weak and useless and withered, and think me envious of your strength."

He shook his head, looking at Kaden. "I can’t be envious of where you are when I have already been there myself, my boy. If I have a wish now, it would only be to wipe my own ass. To keep my own dignity. That would be enough. More than enough..."

Kaden pressed his lips together, paused, then shook his head with a sad smile. "I hope, grandfather — I truly hope — that I will be as wise as you when I reach your age."

Raven laughed, barely a few chuckles. Then his expression shifted, and he settled deeper into the bed, eyes drifting up to the ceiling.

Kaden felt it immediately. A bad feeling. He was right.

"Wisdom..." Raven shook his head with a wry smile. "Yes. Wisdom makes you realise many things. And right now, I have come to understand something. I must go, my boy."

"What... what do you mean, grandfather?"

Raven looked at him, and smiled sadly. "Remember this from me too, my boy...don’t let go too soon. But don’t hang on too long either."

Kaden’s heart stopped.

"I have hung on as long as I could, my boy."

A tear fell. Raven began to cry like a newborn left alone.

"Now I must let go, mustn’t I, my boy?"

’I...am tired, my boy.’

The fourth day ended.

The fifth and last day began.

—End of Chapter 482—